Dr Kumar Visvanathan

Dr Kumar Visvanathan, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, heads up the Innate Immunity Laboratory and is also an infectious diseases physician at Monash Medical Centre. His interest in Sepsis stems from the time he spent as a Post-doctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York, investigating the role of super-antigens in septic and toxic shock.

Since his return to Australia, his research has expanded to incorporate the involvement of the innate immune system in sepsis, hepatitis and other inflammatory diseases. Dr Visvanathan’s career highlights include receiving the Frank Fenner award for advanced research in infectious diseases from the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases, an NHMRC Practioner award, numerous publications and several patents.

Dr Visvanathan is also the editor of the journal Inflammation Research and is an active reviewer for a number of other journals. Looking to the future, Dr Visvanathan and his team are well placed to continue to focus on the innate immunological response to infection, including rotavirus, toxic shock and septic shock as well as inflammatory diseases such as chronic hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis.